Mary Keitany of Kenyan stormed to her third consecutive New York City Marathon victory on Sunday, pulling off a stunning victory in a time of 2:24:26.
After moving away from the leading pack before the halfway point of the race, Keitany kept an excellent pace to win the event that she has become very familiar with after wins in 2014 and 2015.
The 34-year-old is the first woman to win three New York City marathons in a row since Grete Waitz won five from 1982 to 1986.
Second place went to 2012 Olympic silver medallist Sally Kipyego, also of Kenya, in a time of 2:28:01, while American Molly Huddle was third in 2:28:13.
Keitany was not part of Kenya’s 2016 Olympic Games team in Rio earlier this year, as she was dropped due to a collision in the London Marathon that saw her lose out on a top placing there.
This victory proves that she should have been considered for a spot on the team, though perhaps being able to focus on international marathons rather than Rio allowed her to better prepare for New York.
The men’s race was won by 20-year-old Ghirmay Ghebreslassie from Eritrea. The East African won in a time of 2:07:51, adding his name to the record books as the youngest ever winner.
Second place belonged to Kenya’s Lucas Rotich in a time of 2:08:53, just over a minute after Ghebreslassie had earned the 2016 men’s title.
In third place, Somali-born American Abdi Abdirahman completed the trio of African-born runners to dominate this year’s race in a solid time of 2:11:23.
With both the men’s and women’s races won by East African marathon runner, the tradition of excellent long-distance runners from the region continues, and Keitany will no doubt return in 2017 with ambitions of making it four New York City Marathons in a row.
